Naidas on board

I went to ENT Thursday and Sam fitted the new hearing aids. Sam is a lovely young lady who was a good communicator and gave me time to ask questions etc.

Not sure about the settings. It’s very loud at the moment and it’s the unwanted noises that are loud such as the keyboard, toilet flushing, road noise and audience applause (study day yesterday). I didn’t get the loop to work in the auditorium despite checking when I arrived and it did work. Later when I switched it didn’t and I couldn’t be be bothered to complain.

I was handed two enormous boxes to store them in when not in use but no instruction book. I have been online to Phonak and downloaded their user manual. Not that helpful but it confirms what I had already discovered – that you adjust one hearing aid and it communicates with the other (wireless synchronisation) and adjusts that, so you cannot alter the volume etc independently. Sometimes I put one hearing aid on loop and leave the other so I can hear a companion, I couldn’t do that. Book says the audiologist can change that so they work independently.

According to the book there are other gizmos that can go with these aids such as a MyPilot command centre which looks like an ipod. I think you can adjust volume etc using that, or check the battery power. You can also get other bits. The batteries are a different size to my current hearing aids so now I have three sizes and probably wont have the right ones in the right place at the right time. The aids automatically detect phones and switch to T mode (if the magnetic field in the phone is good enough). I don’t plan on using phones again any time soon. Sam set up loop as a separate programme.

I know it will take a period of adjustment but at the moment I am flinching and cowering. I have turned the volume down a bit. It’s OK in the house but was horrible in London yesterday, that traffic was very noisy. On the positive side the car radio was more audible than usual and I did hear a London Underground employee talking to his mate. Not sure what he was saying but more words were clear than usual. I think overall speech is a little easier to hear but I am not yet convinced – need more time.

I think this just confirms that going for an implant is the right decision because aids are just amplifying what I can hear rather than replacing what I cannot hear.

My daughter did say I rang her from my handbag on Thursday – apparently I rang her mobile and she could hear much rustling and rapid footsteps (I was late!) which went on for about ten minutes and then stopped. I had forgotten to lock the keypad in my haste to get from work to the hospital.

I have had a copy of the referral letter to the Royal National Throat, Nose & Ear Hospital so second step in progress. Consultant is Mr. Jeremy Lavy (pronounced Larvy)